The new round values the Bengaluru-based startup at around $235 million, post the investment, said a person familiar with the matter. This is the first fundraise for the company since 2019 when it had snagged back-to-back funding from Nexus and Westbridge Capital.
Yamaha has been investing in new-age mobility players, globally and here in India. In 2018, the Japanese automobile maker had ploughed $150 million into Singapore's transportation app Grab, while locally it has backed car rental firm Drivezy and used marketplace for two-wheelers CredR.
Rapido's co-founder & CEO Aravind Sanka told ET in a chat that the new capital will be used in brand building, hiring talent, and going deeper into existing markets across its three offerings—bikes taxis, auto services and logistics and on-demand delivery.
The company, which competes with Ola and Uber in bike-taxis and auto services, said in a statement it is currently present in around 100 cities with over 15 million customers and over 1.5 million driver-partners.
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Sanka said that bike-taxis, which have been its mainstay since it started, continues to be 60% of its revenues with auto contributing 20% and logistics and delivery comprising the rest of it.
"We only offer on-demand delivery to clients mostly in the food and grocery space. This segment was very small before Covid-19 but has more than doubled in the last year as we saw a major acceleration in this space," Sanka said.
Rapido facilities deliveries for the likes of Zomato, Swiggy, BigBasket, Reliance Jiomart, DotPe, among others. It also has a small presence in the customer facing pick ups and drops business, dominated by platforms like Dunzo and Swiggy.
As for the bike-taxi segment, Sanka said they had seen an uptick in the adoption post the second wave, as people stayed away from using public transportation. "We hope to make a full recovery in demand to the pre-Covid level in the next month." Currently, the bike-taxi business has clocked 75% recovery, he said.
Rapido's auto services, which it launched last year, is currently present in 26 cities. According to the company, the business has recorded a four-fold growth. Earlier this month, it said it will expand the services to Bengaluru.